1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to systems and methods for creating and implementing alarms in an energy management system. More specifically, the invention relates to how alarms are defined (their lifecycle and parameters), to a method for evaluating the efficacy of alarm definitions before implementation, and to enabling and managing alarms at scale for multi-site operators.
2. Description of the Related Art
An energy management system (EMS) typically monitors and, in some cases, controls multiple endpoints such as HVAC units, lighting panels, natural gas consumption, refrigeration, temperature monitors, and other power consuming or monitoring devices located throughout one or more zones of a building or buildings. The monitored data is transmitted to a central control and monitoring system that can be local to the building or buildings being monitored or can be remote to the building or buildings being monitored. The data is typically presented to a user overseeing the operation of one or more of the buildings via a computer monitor coupled to a data storage area, either locally or at a remote location via a server controlled by a third party provider. The operator can identify certain alarm conditions, such as an abnormally high temperature in a refrigeration system, a door left open, lights left on when the building is unoccupied, or an unusually high HVAC system cycle time. An operator can then take immediate actions to mitigate problems associated with such alarm conditions.
As can be appreciated, a large amount and wide variety of data can be generated by the various monitoring systems, especially when monitoring a large number of facilities. To alleviate the information burden on the operator, and to make the data more actionable, intelligent alarm conditions (e.g. more sophisticated that static threshold) should be created, which when met, automatically raise an alarm and send an alert or notification to the operator so the operator can take appropriate and timely action. In addition, if possible, alarms should be defined using common attributes for monitoring points and enabled at the company level so they are inherited by future sites that are commissioned in the EMS, eliminating the administrative burden of configuring alarms at each site for multi-site operations.
However, even inherited alarms with intelligent trigger conditions, when enabled for even a small number of sites can create an overwhelming number of operator notifications in a system that monitors multiple buildings, especially if the alarms do not have the proper lifecycle. Alarms that do not have pending (or buffer) periods, or that have close conditions that are simply a reverse of trigger conditions can result in noisy repeat alarms or alarms that do not reset appropriately (stuck alarms). Moreover, when initially creating a new alarm, it is difficult to predict ahead of time exactly how the alarm will behave. Care must be taken to avoid too many false or repeat alarms when releasing a new alarm into an EMS.
To prevent overly noisy alarms while preserving alarm sensitivity, intelligent alarm definition parameters and a multi-stage alarm lifecycle is needed. What is further needed is an alarm creation tool that allows a user or operator to test new alarms thoroughly and robustly before releasing them into a live EMS. Also needed are tools to effectively enable and manage alarm troubleshooting across multiple sites with the ability to easily drill into each alarm instance for a particular operation or piece of equipment.